Improving maternity

From ColoradoHealthInsuranceWiki

1 How is Maternity Being Covered Now?
2 Getting Covered if You're Already Pregnant
3 Ideas to Improve Maternity Coverage
4 Legislation

[edit] How is Maternity Being Covered Now?

Maternity coverage on individual health insurance plans in Colorado is pathetic. Currently, only three companies offer it as an option:

And with those companies, it's very expensive (Rocky Mountain Health Plans currently charges an additional $538.11/month to add maternity to their individual/family health insurance plans) and very little is covered.

[edit] Getting Covered if You're Already Pregnant

NO individual health insurance company in Colorado will consider an expectant parent for coverage. So if you have no health insurance and become pregnant, your only option is a guarantee issue health plan (through an employer, or CoverColorado). Or you can get a discount maternity benefit with Maternity Card. Maternity Card can work out fine, especially for people that have health insurance coverage with no maternity benefit. This is because the health insurance company will cover any complications to pregancy, and you'll get a discount on the expected, limited costs of the prenatal visits and routine delivery expenses (usually between $5,000 and $12,000).

[edit] Ideas to Improve Maternity Coverage

I would like to see health insurance companies have the ability to cover maternity on HSA plans. I would also like to see hospitals have to charge insured patients the negotiated rates the patients health insurance has with the hospitals, even if the patient doesn't have maternity as a "covered benefit" on their insurance plan.
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